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marlon1492's avatar

I often wonder if the system you describe of doctors prescribing unnecessary medicine is that patients expect their doctors to prescribe something and the doctors feel pressure to meet those expectations.

Additionally, I think American society, at least here in California, thinks there is a pill that will either fix or ameliorate the symptoms of what ails them. For example, my teenage daughter says she is anxious and wants anti-anxiety medication because that is what you do for anxiety. I saw in the paper today that pediatricians want to prescribe medicine for obese kids. Both doctors and patients believe there is a pill for everything and they also seem to believe that there is no need to look at the benefits vs the risks.

There are certainly effective medicines for many things, but not everything. And there are many situations where the benefit-risk calculation is clearly in favor of taking a medicine. Just not always.

Thanks for your post!

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J Lee MD PhD's avatar

Thanks for this morally enlightening tale. UnitedHealth Group has its headquarters here, located on a beautiful campus where the meticulous landscaping resembles that seen around the various homes of the King of England. Many folks here in Minnesota drive by the UnitedHealth campus every day but I would bet that damned few of them spend much time pondering the potent wisdom outlined in your closing paragraph. UnitedHealth is all about making money, and I mean tons of money, and they run a slick operation. P.S. They don't have just one corporate jet, but multiple such "tools" in their fleet. I have seen only one of them up close -- it's the Dassault Falcon 2000EX, registration number N244C, and it's a beauty. I seriously doubt that its interior appointments are drab. I am thinking leather, I am thinking rare woods used for tasteful trim. I think I will vomit now.

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